


anything for you, still

by Starsofgallifrey



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Compliant, Drug Mentions, Kissing, Love Confession, M/M, Nygmobblepot, Sweetness, The Couch - Freeform, confessing under the influence, ivy's perfume, literally all i can say is perfume fic, mentions of hallucination Oswald, perfume fic, some suggestive things, you should all know what that means
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-05-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 15:00:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10833648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starsofgallifrey/pseuds/Starsofgallifrey
Summary: Oswald uses Ivy's perfume on Edward to prove his old friend's loyalty, but when Ivy asks the wrong question, things don't go according to plan.





	anything for you, still

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for all your support on tumblr for me to get this fic out, it really was encouraging.

“Stand in front of me,” Oswald ordered. Edward complied without a word, moving swiftly to the center of the dimly lit room with Selina tailing him. She had done well bringing him here. Ivy’s connections and hidden talents continued to make Oswald’s ego grow. He waved Selina out of the room, and she begrudgingly complied. He finally had Ed right where he wanted him, and despite the recent week of arduous fighting, he could finally figure out the truth. 

 

Oswald had Firefly and Freeze behind him, guns readily pointed at Ed so he wouldn’t try anything. Ed stared blankly at Oswald as his friend started to hobble forward. “Ivy, do your magic,” he sneers. 

 

Ivy smiled awkwardly, as she applied the perfume to her wrists, and extended an arm to the Riddler. Ed didn’t lean down, and maintained eye contact with his former partner. “Oswald, I swear to you I will be nothing but truthful and honest; you don’t have to do this.”

 

“You think I can trust you?” Oswald’s voice was bitter. He was trying to maintain an unforgiving and indifferent attitude, and it was working. “It’s funny to me you think you have the privilege.”

 

Ed gazed at him wistfully, his eyes glistening. “Oswald, I...I want to tell you myself. That’s why I came willingly. I want to tell you... _ everything _ , without being on some drug.” Oswald could see Ed physically repulsed upon saying that last word. 

  
“Then say it,” Oswald says weakly. He’s still going to use Ivy, but knew it would be interesting to hear Ed tell him the truth without being under the influence. Ed opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. Even he seemed surprised with himself when he couldn’t figure out what to say. Oswald gives a bitter laugh and Ed closes his mouth, a redness in his cheeks. Embarrassed was he? The man couldn’t muster up an excuse of any sort. It was pathetic.

 

“ _ Ivy _ ,” Oswald snapped, when he realized she was backing away from the man. Huffing, she moved her wrist close enough for the scent to be unavoidable, yet he didn’t try to resist this time. 

 

Oswald could see the perfume enter his system, as Ed started to radiate his own type of yellowish glow. Oswald takes a deep breath and moves one more step forward. If he reached out his arm now, he’s sure he could touch Ed’s chest. He could nearly smell his familiar cologne and the memories returning to him were causing Oswald to falter. 

 

Ivy speaks first, “Answer every question of the Penguin’s truthfully and without hesitation.” 

 

Oswald nods to her and she steps back. Clearing his throat, he asks his first quesiton.. “Are you loyal to Barbara Kean?”

 

“No,” the answer was immediate, and it seemed Ed had no issue displaying that fact for the whole room to hear. Oswald felt a spark of satisfaction inside of him at hearing Ed debunk his acquaintance with Ms. Kean.

 

“Are you loyal to Butch or Tabitha?”

 

“Neither.” Oswald smiled at the answer.

 

“You’re saying just want I want to hear. This pleases me, Riddler.” He smiles fraudulent, leaning close. “For now.” Ed doesn’t change expression. He keeps smiling warmly, cheeks dimpled and round and seeing him like this was giving Oswald thoughts should have burned and buried long ago.

 

“You’re going to be honest with me now whether you like it or not. Can you be loyal to me?”

 

“Only if you’re loyal to me,” Ed responds simply. It wasn’t a yes or no answer, but it made sense. Oswald pondered this. All he had to do was respect Ed and his own tribulations and the man wouldn’t betray him. The concept made him jittery. There was a chance he and Ed could work together again at last, and not just under the controlling hand of Fish Mooney.

 

He finds himself smiling, bitterness leaving his system unexpectedly. “I wasn’t thinking you would answer what I wanted to hear. I’m...glad.” 

 

Ed closes his eyes, as if in prayer that the Penguin finishes this whole questionnaire charade. Oswald had a million questions on the tip of his tongue, but he respected Ed enough not to force him into expelling any information through a drug induced hypnosis. When he was about to call everyone in the room off, Ivy steps up next to Oswald to stand in front of Ed. 

 

“What are you doing?” Oswald hisses in a whisper. She doesn’t respond, standing her ground instead. 

 

“Do you love Oswald, Ed?”

  
Oswald gasped at her question, but before he could scold her for stepping out of line Ed answers with a broken sounding, “Yes.”

 

For a moment, Oswald feels bile rise in his throat. The answer he had been wanting to hear since that intimate moment spent on the couch had finally been uttered. 

 

“Yes I love him,” Ed answers, tears streaming down his cheeks, his smile stretching to his eyes. Oswald shakes his head, avoiding the words. This had to be forced.

 

“No... _ No _ Ivy your potion, perfume, drug thing must not be working. This is all fake, he’s lying. He’s ly-”

  
“I love you Oswald. I realized this after I made the mistake at the docks; I couldn’t live without you for weeks, and even after I was...a part of me was missing. It killed a part of me, what I did to you and you were right. Oswald,  _ I love yo _ u.” Ed struggled to keep himself quiet, but the truth was pouring from him like water from a tipped over vase.

 

Oswald stared at him. Ivy hadn’t made him say those words. This was all Ed.

 

“Eddie, tell him about what happened when you decided to go on the drugs.” Ivy spoke with a bubbly cock of her head. 

 

“Ivy how-” Oswald starts, dumbfounded.

 

“Word gets around, ya know?” Ivy says simply. Of course, she was in cahoots with Selina who knew Barbara, who obviously was in cahoots with Ed. Gotham was truly a smaller place than it seemed. Anyhow, what mattered was Edward.

 

“Drugs? You do drugs now? Ed?” Oswald lost all predilection for exactly how  _ much _ he was supposed to be caring for Ed in the moment and instead acted like an over-worried partner. 

 

“Speed,” Ed chokes back the word. “After your death...it helped the hallucinations come. I wanted to see you sooner, I bit the capsule instead of swallowing. I did this  at least once or twice a day, sometimes more.”

 

Oswald’s eyes widened and before he knew it, he was grabbing him by his lapels, shoving him backwards. “Why the hell would you do that?  _ Why would you do that _ ? Ed! You can’t just-”

 

“I love you.”

 

“Stop saying  _ that _ . Ivy you’re sure this stuff works all the time.”

  
“Positive.” Oswald tries to steady his breathing and not focus on the truth of the statements he had just heard from his old friend. 

 

Ed’s eyes were still filled with tears. Oswald could tell he wanted the interrogation to be stopped, despite the remaining smile. Perhaps if he was lucky and Ed didn’t hold a grudge on him for drugging him, Ed would feel comfortable admitting everything on his own accords. But, not now.

 

“Everyone out.”

 

“Are you sure, boss?” Bridget asks. Victor echoes her concerns. Oswald raises a fist, lips drawn in a tight line. 

 

“ _ Out _ .” 

 

On their way out, Ivy whispers a cheerful “You’re welcome” to Oswald, and bounces away on her tip toes. Oswald huffs. That child didn’t know the difference between right or wrong. He turns back to Edward, still uneasy at the unprecedented smile. 

 

“Ed...I- I don’t know how long this stuff takes to wear off, okay?” 

 

Ed doesn’t answer, and keeps his hands crossed behind his back. Oswald sighs, rubbing his temples. “Let’s just sit until it wears off. I’m sure you can tell me when you feel like the influence is gone.”

 

Ed immediately moves to the couch in front of the fire, and Oswald looks at the view with a rush of nostalgia. Never did he think they’d be sitting on this same couch again, with the love of his life. He had brought Ed here to perhaps kill him or banish him in some form, if his loyalty hadn’t held up. But now he was regressing into his old self, feeling his heart pump faster now that there were no more boundaries between them.

 

_ Yes I love him _ ; Oswald half wished he had recorded the words so he could listen to them every night.

 

He sat close beside him, their knees almost touching. Ed stared into the fire, in a feral concentration. Perhaps he was trying to expel the effects from his system. Oswald watched him closely, terrified to touch. He opted to just stare at a place on the floor until this all ended and then Ed might scream at him and leave. 

 

It might be better that way.

 

It seemed like an hour, maybe two before Oswald couldn’t stand the silence. He at least wanted Ed to speak, try and see if the perfume’s effects had worn off.  “Ed...would you-”

 

“I would do anything for you,” Ed says softly, answering Oswald’s unspoken request. Oswald sits paralyzed, looking into the doe eyes that had just turned to meet his own. 

 

“Kiss me,” Oswald responds, barely registering the words as they leave his own lips. When Ed starts to lean in, he feels a rush of panic and pushes him away. “No, Ed _ oh god _ , I’m sorry. You’re still under the influence, don’t kiss me. Don’t listen to that order.”

 

Ed disobeys, pushing Oswald back gently into the cushions of the couch and climbing onto his lap. He kisses him then without a second thought, swaying slightly. 

 

Oswald doesn’t kiss back for a moment. Ed… had  _ disobeyed _ . Oswald broke the kiss, with a light push to Ed’s chest. “T-The perfume…” he couldn’t form a coherent sentence with the love of his life sitting on top of him, warm thighs pressing against his hips. 

 

“Wore off about 30 minutes ago,” Ed says rapidly, eager to get back to the main event.

 

Oswald narrowed his eyes, “You-”

 

Ed kisses him, cutting him off again. This time Oswald does reciprocate, timidly at first. He was scared. Everything was happening all at once, and he felt crowded. But the soft lips against his own had his heart beating like rapid fire, and his body chilled with goosebumps. It was out of his comfort zone, but it was invigorating to feel him,  _ have him _ , like this. Have  _ Ed _ .

 

He grabs Ed’s hips, moving his slow swaying into mild thrusts as both men make up for lost time and weeks of frustration. The small feminine sounds he’s extracting from Ed is what was driving Oswald over the edge. This felt too good to be true. 

 

“Is this what you wanted all those weeks ago on this couch?” Ed whispers into his neck, resting his lips. His breath was warm. Oswald murmurs an unclear ‘yes’ lost in arousal and confliction.

 

“Me too.” 

 

Something inside Oswald breaks, and he grabs Ed by his cheeks dragging him down into a firmer kiss. Edward moans sweetly. “I hate you sometimes,” Oswald grumbles. “But I still love you.”

 

“I love you too,” Edward says, his eyes glistening. “I could've told you without the perfume,  Oswald.”

 

Oswald groans, both because Edward reached a hand down between his legs teasingly,  _ and _ because; “That was Ivy’s fault. I would never want you to confess your feelings without being on your own terms.”

 

“Says the man who brought me here to have me killed if I didn’t comply,” Ed says. His tone is playful, and reminiscent rather than hostile.

 

“Well…” Oswald giggles for the first time in a while. “Maybe not  _ kill _ .”

 

“Oh you don’t think I know you?” Ed says with a toothy grin. Oswald rolls his eyes and both men laugh. This was getting too familiar. Oswald swallows.

 

“Ed don’t you think we’re getting too comfortable right now?”

 

“In the past few weeks all we’ve been dealing with is war, and fighting, and misunderstandings. Don’t you think with both deserve a little bit of a break, and I know you’re not one to decline me…”

 

Oswald hisses as he slides his long fingers into Oswald’s trousers. “You’re not letting me think clearly.”

 

“You had me drugged, so I’d say we’re even.” When Oswald doesn’t respond, he leans in close pressing a barely-there kiss to his lips. “We have all the time in the world to talk. What’s one night?”

 

With a sharp intake of break, Oswald nods. He wanted Ed. And for once, Ed wanted him. There were issues that needed to be settled, things that needed to be discussed but he supposed just for one night he could forget them. 

  
“Deal.”


End file.
